Chesapeake taps Anadarko senior VP as new CEO

Doug Lawler will join Chesapeake Energy as CEO and a member of it Board of Directors in June.

Robert Douglas (“Doug”) Lawler will join Chesapeake Energy as its CEO and a member of the Board of Directors, effective 17 June, the company announced this week. Mr Lawler currently serves as senior vice president, international and deepwater operations at Anadarko Petroleum. He is a petroleum engineer with 25 years of experience in the upstream exploration and production industry, with significant expertise in asset development, operations management and engineering, as well as experience in corporate and strategic planning.

With Mr Lawler assuming the CEO position, the office of the chairman will be discontinued, and Archie W. Dunham, Steven C. Dixon and Domenic J. Dell’Osso Jr. will continue to serve in their roles as non-executive chairman of the board; executive vice president of operations and geosciences and chief operating officer; and executive vice president and chief financial officer, respectively.

“Doug is a talented and proven executive with the ideal skill set to lead Chesapeake forward and capitalize fully on our world-class assets. Throughout his 25 years in the upstream E&P industry, Doug has earned a reputation as a highly engaged and knowledgeable leader who delivers superior operational performance and capital efficiency. The board is confident that Doug’s deep technical upstream and engineering expertise as well as his strategic and financial skills will serve Chesapeake well,” Mr Dunham said.

Mr Lawler commented: “I am honored and excited to be joining Chesapeake Energy with its unparalleled asset portfolio, focused management team and very talented and dedicated employees. There is significant value in Chesapeake’s asset base and the growth potential of the company is tremendous. I look forward to accelerating the momentum that the Chesapeake team has built to generate value for our shareholders in the years ahead.”

During Mr Lawler’s 25 years at Anadarko and Kerr-McGee, he served in multiple engineering and leadership positions within a diverse geographic portfolio, including US onshore, deepwater Gulf of Mexico and international assets. He was most recently senior vice president, international and deepwater operations and a member of Anadarko’s Executive Committee. In this capacity, he was responsible for new and existing developments, including the company’s multi-train LNG project in Mozambique. He previously served as Anadarko’s vice president, operations for the Southern and Appalachia Region, where he directed the development of four major shale plays: Eagle Ford, Marcellus, Haynesville and Permian Bone Spring/Avalon. Prior to that, he held positions of increasing responsibility within Anadarko’s operations, business planning and analysis departments, including vice president, corporate planning. Mr Lawler began his career in 1988 at Kerr-McGee, which was acquired by Anadarko in 2006.

Mr Lawler is a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, the World Affairs Council and The Houston Museum of Natural Science. He holds a bachelor of science degree in petroleum engineering from the Colorado School of Mines and an MBA from Rice University.